By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Bristol is last chance to advance for NASCAR Cup Playoff drivers

Denny Hamlin faces the equivalent of a last-chance qualifier in Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

(Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

The first round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs certainly hasn’t gone according to plan for the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. A conservative strategy and a late wreck led to a 24th-place finish in the Round of 16 opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Last Sunday at the Watkins Glen International road course, the wreck came early. The No. 11 Camry was wounded in a multicar accident on the first lap, and Hamlin had to fight for a 23rd-place finish that left him six points below the current cut line for the Round of 12.

On the positive side, Hamlin can point to his record at Bristol with confidence. He’s the defending winner of the Night Race, and he added a fourth career victory at Thunder Valley in March.

Hamlin leads all active drivers with four pole positions at the track and has started 10th or better in nine straight Bristol races. He has qualified fourth, second and third in the three concrete-surface events featuring the Next Gen car.

“I feel like we can go to Bristol and win,” Hamlin said. “We can control our own destiny there. If we can run in the top two or three all day and score stage points and be there at the end like we are capable of doing, then I feel good about it.”

Hamlin insists he’s not in a must-win situation, but there are few convenient targets available in his quest to advance on points. JGR teammate Ty Gibbs and Stewart-Haas Racing driver Chase Briscoe are 11th and 12th in the Playoff standings, leading Hamlin by six points.

To catch Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and William Byron—ninth and 10th in the standings—Hamlin would have to overcome respective deficits of 26 and 25 points.

Clearly, the best-case scenario for Hamlin is a victory and automatic advancement to the Round of 12.

Veterans Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. face even more daunting challenges. Entering Saturday’s elimination race, Keselowski is 12 points below the current cutoff, and Truex—in his last full season of Cup racing—is 14 points in arrears.

Keselowski is a three-time Bristol winner. Truex has never won a Cup race on the high-banked concrete track, but he finished second to Hamlin in March, with Keselowski coming home third.

It may be a good omen that Truex’s No. 19 Toyota is carrying the livery of the race’s entitlement sponsor. It’s a better predictor that the Cup Series drivers will be racing on the same rubber that made the spring race a tire-management challenge.

“I’m certainly looking forward to it more than in past years,” said Truex, who has scored just three top fives in 34 Bristol starts. “Bristol has been in the past, just hammer it as hard as you can all day. Track position was huge.

“Tires didn’t really wear out and it was all about pit stops, restarts and track position. Now, in the spring, it was like old-school racing. I enjoyed that more and had better success at it than I did in previous years at Bristol, so I’m excited for that and I think it’s a good opportunity for us with our Bass Pro Shops Camry.”

Through two Playoff races, Joey Logano is the only driver who has clinched a spot in the Round of 12, thanks to his victory in the Atlanta opener.

But points leader Christopher Bell (+46), Austin Cindric (+43) and Alex Bowman (+41) merely need solid, problem-free runs to advance.

At the World’s Fastest Half-Mile, however, there are no guarantees.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Set to Join Playoff Party

JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith and Big Machine Racing driver Parker Kligerman would like nothing better than for the status quo to hold firm in Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Entering the cutoff race for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, 10 drivers already are locked into the seven-event postseason.

The only scenario that could eliminate Kligerman, who is 85 points above the current cut line, is a victory by a Playoff-eligible driver below the cutoff combined with a loss of more than 42 net points to Smith.

Kligerman can clinch a Playoff spot by scoring 14 points on Friday, no matter who wins the race.

Likewise, Smith has a commanding advantage for the final Playoff spot, unless a Playoff-eligible driver below him in the standings happens to win on Friday.

Smith leads Ryan Sieg by 43 points entering the first race to be broadcast by The CW, which subsequently will air all seven Playoff races in the series in anticipation of next year’s full-season schedule.

In two Xfinity starts at Bristol, Smith qualified sixth both times and posted finishes of 14th and ninth.

“I’m looking forward to running under the lights this Friday at Bristol as we contend for our position in the Playoffs,” Smith said. “I’ve had good runs there in the past, and JRM has always brought strong cars there, so I’m excited to get there and close out the regular season on a high note.”

The Xfinity regular-season title is also up for grabs, though Justin Allgaier has a commanding 43-point lead over reigning series champion Cole Custer entering the race that will decide who earns the 15-Playoff-point bonus.

Allgaier is the defending winner of the Food City 300. He’ll have a competitive teammate in his boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who will make his first start of the season on Friday. Earnhardt led 47 laps in last year’s Bristol race before exiting with ignition problems after 271 of 300 circuits.

After lengthy break, NASCAR Truck drivers resume Playoffs

Little was decided in the Aug. 25 first race of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoffs at the Milwaukee Mile, but the race for the title should take on more definition after Thursday night’s UNOH 200 Presented by Ohio Logistics at Bristol Motor Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Non-Playoff driver Layne Riggs won at Milwaukee, denying all 10 title contenders the prospect of advancing to the Round of 8 with a victory.

In addition, the two drivers who enter Friday’s race below the current cut line—defending series champion Ben Rhodes and Rajah Caruth—are well within sight of the positive side of the Playoff bubble.

With the field set to be cut from 10 to eight drivers on Sept. 27 at Kansas, Rhodes and Caruth trail eighth-place Grant Enfinger by two points and four points, respectively.

In three Truck Series starts at Bristol, Caruth has two top 10s to his credit.

“The key to success at Bristol is precision,” Caruth said. “You have to be plugged in and remain aware of everything going on around you. It’s a super-fun race track, but you are going fast, there’s a lot of banking, it is tough to see, and things happen very quickly.

“I’ve raced pretty much everything there, from ARCA to Trucks to Xfinity. Hopefully, we can build off our past runs and punch our ticket to the next round of the Playoffs.”

Series leader Christian Eckes (60 points above the current cutoff) won the spring race at Bristol. Fellow Playoff driver Corey Heim is the defending winner of the UNOH 200.

Note: Connor Zilisch, who won his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut from the pole last Saturday at Watkins Glen, will make his third Truck start of the season in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet.